An El Paso businessman serving a prison sentence after his conviction on federal public corruption charges has been indicted on four new, unrelated charges, along with his wife.

Court records show Adrian Peña and his wife, Melissa, have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government; false, fictitious or fraudulent claims; theft of public money and property; and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

According to the indictment, federal prosecutors allege the Peñas conspired together between Sept. 3, 2009, and June 21, 2010, to falsely charge the government for construction of a federal facility for a Department of Defense agency in Arizona.

REPORTER

Adriana M. Chávez

At the time, Melissa Peña was the vice president of a company named SDVO, which was owned by her father, and Adrian Peña worked as a construction consultant for SDVO. The company is not named in the indictment.

The indictment also alleges the Peñas made a fraudulent claim for payment totaling about $547,071 from the government. Prosecutors are also asking that the Peñas forfeit $1,033,550.55, the total amount they allegedly received from the scheme.

Following her arrest, Melissa Peña was freed after posting a $10,000 bond. Adrian Peña, who is also a former construction consultant for contractor C.F. Jordan, is currently serving a six-year, four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty in December 2010 to two counts of mail fraud.

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According to prosecutors, between August 2003 to June 2006, Adrian Peña agreed to remodel an El Paso County commissioner's home in return for the commissioner's vote to award a contract to Adrian Peña's employer.

In a 2009 El Paso Times article, the commissioner was identified as Elizabeth "Betti" Flores.

Prosecutors also alleged that between May 2002 and July 2007, Adrian Peña and others planned to pay a $13,000 bribe to an El Paso Independent School District trustee. The trustee was identified in a 2009 El Paso Times article as Sal Mena Jr.

Adrian Peña was assigned to serve his sentence at a federal satellite prison camp in Florence, Colo., but is now being held at a federal jail facility in Otero County. He was scheduled to appear Tuesday at a status hearing before U.S. District Judge Phil Martinez.

Adrian Peña has filed an appeal seeking to withdraw his 2010 guilty plea, alleging misconduct by U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo, who presided over his public corruption case.

In the appeal, Adrian Peña alleges Montalvo told his attorney at the time, Tom Stanton, during a conference in chambers that no plea would be accepted from Adrian Peña unless issues related to a separate civil case were resolved.

The civil case involved SDVO, which Stanton also represented, and the government contract in Arizona. According to a court transcript of a hearing on May 11, 2011, before Montalvo, the judge refers to a mention of the SDVO case in Adrian Peña's pre-sentencing report by a federal probation officer.

Montalvo stated that in the report, the SDVO case is called a pending charge "erroneously." Montalvo also said during the hearing that he would instruct the probation officer to remove the reference.

According to the transcript, Adrian Peña told Montalvo he was not aware of a criminal investigation into the SDVO allegations until after he pleaded guilty to the public corruption charges.

In an emailed statement to the El Paso Times, Adrian Peña said the new charges were filed in retaliation for his appeal, which led to the temporary unsealing of several documents in his case.

"This indictment is being brought against me because of my (continuous) pursuit to expose the injustice behind the public corruption investigations and prosecutions," Adrian Peña wrote in his statement.

Adrian Peña, who in the past has advocated for the unsealing of documents in cases involving local public corruption investigations, said he will continue fighting for the public's right to access those documents.

"Just as I was successful in the past with the Fifth Circuit of Appeals ordering the unsealing of court documents, I will continue to fight for public access," Adrian Peña wrote in his statement.

Adrian Peña's appeal was argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans in March. A ruling is expected sometime in June.

Adriana M. Chávez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117. Follow her on Twitter @AChavezEPTimes.

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